Overnight Swap: Federal Agents Replace Restored Slavery Panels at Washington's President's House, Sparking Outrage

In another attempt to reshape how slavery is remembered, federal agents overnight removed newly restored panels at Philadelphia's President's House site and quietly installed replacements that critics say sanitize George Washington's role as an enslaver.

Attorney Michael Coard of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition didn't mince words: "To say that we're outraged is an understatement." Speaking near the Liberty Bell on Wednesday, Coard said the new panels "completely whitewashed" the history of slavery at the site, where Washington kept nine enslaved Africans while serving as president. He singled out language describing Washington's "discomfort" with slavery as especially galling: "What about the 316 Black men, women and children he enslaved at Mount Vernon? What about the nine he enslaved here in Philadelphia? If he had 'discomfort,' what did they have?"

The swap came after the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed four of five claims Philadelphia had filed over the panels' original removal in January, reversing a district court order that had required restoration. ATAC spokesperson Dawn Chavous said unidentified workers erected barricades before dawn and installed the new panels without notice.

The Interior Department defended the change, insisting the panels "are full of historical context" and "acknowledge the evils of slavery, including its injustices and hypocrisies," and that they tell "the full story, every triumph, every challenge, and every step towards a more perfect union" ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary.

But Mayor Cherelle Parker pushed back, pledging the city would keep exploring legal options and insisting "all of our history must be told." She framed the site as forcing a reckoning with "core questions we still live and struggle with today,  how do we share power for the betterment of all people?"

For Coard, the administration's real priorities were clear: "If the federal government would ignore the hell of slavery for the victims but highlight the president's discomfort, that tells you everything you need to know." National Park Service rangers and U.S. Park Police then blocked the coalition from holding a news conference at the site without a permit, pushing the fight over memory further from view.

Link: Philly Tribune